I've Never been Human
by Syrubis
Summary: Ruby was never the lone wolf she thought she was, and with Weiss she's quickly learning that being something you're not is scary, and being who you are is terrifying. Weiss knows something's amiss, but what she discovers could change the way she looks at Ruby forever, and Ruby knows it.
1. Where we Start

** \- - - I've Never Been Human** \- - - ****

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_This chapter is painfully short, and for that I'm sorry, but it serves it's purpose and I'm okay with that._  
_RWBY isn't something I think I'd have gotten into on my own, so I owe a friend for this fanfics existence, you'll also have to be patient with me as it's been awhile since I wrote anything and I'm still learning all the inns and outs of the series, so if I get something wrong feel free to point it out. Anyway, enjoy~  
Also, thank my friend for the pairing, too. I was going to go with Blake and Ruby 3_

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**_\- Introduction_**

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**_RUBY_**

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Ruby practically flew into the classroom, ten minutes late and followed by a trail of water, not to mention the soggy remains of her books as they slowly fell apart in her arms. Nevertheless she was grinning ear to ear as she finally swung her legs under the table and slid along the chair toward Weiss, splashing water up her side in the process.

"Ruby!" Weiss scolded under her breath, a look of utter horror spread across her features as she hastily began drying herself with her sleeve and groaning in frustration. Ruby began her long line of apologise, but Weiss wasn't really listening. Yang gave her the thumbs up from just behind Weiss' head, and Ruby happily excepted the 'yay, you made it' and responded with a double thumbs up 'just in time'.

Yup, her morning had gone pretty well if she said so herself, she'd even had time to stop by the cafeteria and pick up a jumbo sized muffin, which was safely tucked away in the pocket of her coat. She licked her lips at the thought of eating it, then several seconds later she was licking her lips to rid them of the delicious chocolatey substance that just seemed to get everywhere no matter what she tried.

She glanced up on occasion, pretending to listen to the teacher, and pretending to care about the disappointed looks Weiss kept shooting her, but she didn't really care about anything right now except her wonderfully amazing muffin.

_Muffin muffin muffin!_ She thought happily, mentally singing her own muffin tune, right up until it was gone and the wonderful joys of muffins was replaced with a crippling sadness and empty feeling. Had she been looking at Weiss at the time she would have seen her roll her eyes before reaching into her pack and pulling out a small box of cookies.

Instead all Ruby noticed was the table, her soggy books, no muffin and then the wonderfulness of Weiss' hand accompanied by a mysterious box, that upon further inspection, contained more sugary goodness. Of course they didn't last much longer but by now Ruby was quite content and infinitely satisfied.

She understood how she must seem to others, childish, silly. Only her sister really knew that her quirks went a bit beyond her youth, or lack thereof. She pouted, sometimes she wished that she'd age just a little faster, perhaps not as fast as Weiss and Blake would age, but at least fast enough to suggest a few more years than she currently had under her belt. Or appeared to have.

"I'm all out." Weiss whispered, not bothering to take her eyes off the teacher. Ruby realized she probably looked like she was sulking again and she mentally kicked herself. "You eat too much of that junk, anyway."

"Do not." Ruby huffed defiantly, to which Weiss flicked her sapphire gaze at her own silver eyes, a very brief contest of wills that Ruby quickly lost, she knew never to hold the 'don't answer back when you know I'm right' look. Even if in this particular instance Ruby knew she was right, because she didn't eat too much. In fact, for her body to continue running at its optimal performance she should be eating nearly three times as much.  
Aaand Ruby was thinking too much. Winter always did that to her, though.

Class went on far longer than Ruby would have liked, and she swore each time the class got just that little bit longer, and that she couldn't possibly have checked the clock six times and not have seen even the slightest movement. Regardless, the moment the teacher had excused them she was flying down the corridors towards the dorm so she could change into something a little, well, dryer, then go get dinner. Because she loved dinner, and after dinner would be desert!

"You're a spaz." Yang laughed, entering the room shortly after, closely followed by Blake and Weiss. Ruby stuck her tongue out playfully before gathering her change of clothes and heading towards the bathroom. Blake made for her pile of books and Yang and Weiss bee-lined towards the T.V, which the group has begged Weiss to buy.

Ruby shut the door firmly behind her before she practically ripped off her clothes, they wear still soaked and the clung to her like a second skin, and by the time she'd managed to wiggle out of them she was hot from all the effort. She collapsed against the sink in an overly dramatic way before lazily draping her skirt across her face, for absolutely no particular reason other than the fact she thought it might be amusing, which it was. Briefly. Then it was hotter.

Ruby has always been particularly susceptible to heat, ever since she was young, while Yang was the complete opposite. Though that was largely due to the fact they had different fathers. Neither of them had ever known their 'dads' personally, and their mother had never spoken of them, or even given them their names. Mostly it was just anxiety over being left with children she couldn't take care of.

"Hey, Ruby, did you want to-" the door swung open so quickly Ruby barely had time to cover herself with a towel and shout "Out!", which shocked Weiss, whom Ruby only identified by the brief glimpse of white she'd seen before she dove behind the shower curtain.

"Calm down, I was only-"

"Get out!" Ruby snapped again, and though she didn't know it her voice was harsh and it sent a pang of hurt and confusion into Weiss' heart. Yang's voice carried through the door moment later. "Don't worry, Weiss, she's just shy."

"Well she didn't need to be a bitch about it." Weiss snapped, turning on her heel and storming out. Yang on the other hand inched into the room and shut the door behind her, whispering to her sister.

"Do you think she saw them?"

Ruby peaked nervously from behind the curtain and shook her head. "She would have said something, but she almost did! I was completely naked and practically standing in front of the door!"

"Be more careful, then." Yang joked.

"Shut up and let me get dressed." Ruby huffed. She felt guilty for having yelled at Weiss the way she did, and she wanted to get dressed quickly and go apologize. Yang didn't need to be told and she was gone as quickly as she'd come leaving ruby once again alone in the white tiled room.

What if Weiss had seen? Just like that, everything would have been over. She shuddered, no, that was not something she should consider. She'd just have to be more careful about locking the door from now on.

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_**WEISS**_

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Weiss never did much like the cold, which seemed a little cliché considering ice was really her go to element. In fact most things about her could be considered cold, from her snowy attire to her chilly disposition. She smirked under her covers but not out of any real amusement, more because she was making herself feel uncomfortable.

In truth, she always preferred red, hot, toasty. The colour of love and of passion. Red was by far her favourite colour though her parents always scolded her, said red was the colour of anger, blood and war. These things she could see were true, but was blue not the colour of sadness? White, nothingness? Is that what they wanted for her? She rolled over again, pulling the blankets more tightly around her thin frame and willing the storm outside to cease.

She could hear Ruby in the bed above, snoring loudly and occasionally mumbling in her sleep. Every time she moved the ropes would shudder under the pressure and Weiss always worried it might come down on her one day. She sighed and rolled onto her back, staring up at the wooden frame and mattress that separated her from the person she wanted to look at. She never got to see Ruby sleep.

She couldn't really lie. It had hurt when ruby had yelled at her earlier, even if Weiss had been in the wrong. She hadn't considered it until now but she'd never actually seen Ruby change, it was always her, Blake and Yang. She supposed that maybe Ruby just wasn't as comfortable, she was younger after all, maybe she was paranoid about her breasts? Weiss shrugged.

In truth, she was very fond of the lunatic, excitable and happy to a fault, perhaps not as bad as Nora, but crazy all the same. She was a pain during class, and god how Weiss wished she would just pay attention, but she made things fun. Made things easier. In truth, without ruby, Weiss would have quit everything and just disappeared under a rock by now.

If it wasn't the pressure of her family, the school and the general population with their expectations unfairly high it was the fact that she never really got to be herself, never got to be light-hearted light Ruby, or quite like Blake. Never got to be boisterous like Yang or as stupid as Jaune. She never got to do a lot of things, and she never would.

She considered her life as a commoner for a moment, easy, relaxing, a little bit of hard work here and there to put food on the table. No press, not practiced speeches, no more white or blue. She could be herself, and herself could be anyone. She could be a dancer, a singer. Maybe she'd paint? She loved painting, well, she loved the idea of painting.

Maybe sculpting? She'd like to work with her hands. Her hands that were currently frozen.

"Fuck, it's freezing." Came the way too hearty voice of Yang in the bed across from her. Practically mimicking Weiss' thoughts.  
At least she wasn't the only one to notice.

"Yup." A voice responded from the bed bellow Yang's, followed by the sound of a turning page.

"Hey, Blake! Wanna snuggle?"

"No."

"Aww"

"Would you two shush." Ruby grumbled.

Weiss grinned instantly at the chance to further provoke her best friend and after a very brief moment of silence she said in her best matter of fact tone. "It is very cold."

Ruby swung an arm over the edge of the bed to wave it grumpily at Weiss but Yang and Blake already knew the game and after a few seconds delay Blake said in monotone "Freezing."

Yang then replied loudly "Very, very cold!"

The room fell silent for several minutes and Weiss could do nothing to stop the grin plastered across her face. It was a grin of anticipation as she slowly took a breath and asked "Say, Ruby, don't you think it's cold?"

Ruby almost howled, her arm flailing wildly before disappearing back presumably under her covers. She rolled over, then again and then again follow by some more complaining. The room eventually fell into silence, and that was when Ruby huffed and slid out, landing with a light thud beside Weiss' bed.

"Alright, I'm up." She said grumpily, but her face quickly lit up, as it always did, and after a few celebratory insults between Ruby and her sister everyone was up and snuggled up in Blake's bed, because Blake always refused to move, watching early morning cartoons on the T.V.

Overall, it was pretty much what they did every morning, only slightly earlier, and with more snuggling because of the cold. Which was great, of course… That didn't stop Weiss from noticing that Ruby seemed uncomfortably close to Blake, or more to the point, uncomfortable too far away from her. They always snuggled up to watch T.V, had she upset Ruby that much? She didn't mean anything by it...

She sighed, maybe she was over thinking it. Yeah, that was it.


	2. Hurled into Destiny Unknowingly

: / / w w w . ? v = k

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Oh my god. Finally an update. It would have been sooner but after hours of work and about 20,000 words little dumbbutt me lost the file, deleted it, moved it, did something with it and now it's gone. My pc crashed and I ended up working around on three other computers, fussing around like a tool. It was a painstaking labor of hatred rewriting this chapter, well, mini chapter. It felt like a burden just knowing all the work I did is sitting on one of my usbs and hiding because IT HATES ME.

But I still updated, and I'm proud of myself, less proud of the two weeks of sulking I did before I finally admitted it needed to be redone, but hey. Hope you all appreciate it anyway :3

On the up side, ya'll get to find out what Ruby is in the next chapter, you're going to love it, I hope, if you don't, well... You're a big poop. :)

Youtube is music I wrote the first bit to, not sure if it fits while reading but it's there just in case.

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Weiss narrowed her eyes in a pointless attempt to shield them from the rage of winter. Wind pelted the landscape, sweeping the grasses flat against the earth and pushing the rains with such force it felt like needles against her flesh. The moon glowed red from behind the clouds, a silent spectator as the world bellow it stood in a tense hush and all the while tiny flecks of light peered out from the darkness beyond.

Her skin prickled in anticipation, her body ready for either fight or flight, whichever was called for in order to accomplish her task. In the distance a call sounded, like the voices of creatures in pain reverberating in the chest of a giant beast. The beating of war drums overhead as giant wings pounded the air, the stench of foul breath accompanied by the unmistakable smell that followed a bloody and lethal fight. Death, decay and disease.

Weiss shivered in anticipation, her hand moving instinctively to where Myrtenaster should have hung. Her breath hitched, her body tensed and the dread that had pooled in her stomach exploded outward like a grenade, filling her mind and soul with fear and dread. The beast above her screamed her name, demanded her to fight.

She stepped back, stumbling as her heel caught on the roots of an unknown plant, and with a gasp she fell, sprawled on her back staring up at the creature that hunted her. Her throat contracted and she could not scream, she could do nothing but stare at the silver eyes of a creature she could not name, could not place from any of her memories.

It was as long as a serpent with coal black scales, suspended in the air with wings that were not wings and thick arms that hung uselessly, ending in large webbed claws. Its face was narrow and gaunt, as though it were starving and its ribs protruded uncomfortably on either side. It watched her with great interest, not unlike an eagle. It tilted its head each which way, analysing her, before coiling through the air like an eel in water.

It circled her, studied her, before finally it descended, faster than anything Weiss had ever seen, and in a swirl of crimson petals it lurched forward, its jaws wide, and Weiss screamed.

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"Weiss! Weiss!"

She blinked her eyes in shock, tiny hands gripped her tightly, shaking her from a restless and distressing sleep. Ruby searched her friend's expression for a sign of consciousness before smiling gently.

"It's okay" she whispered, swiping the back of her hand gently against Weiss' forehead. "It's okay, it was just another bad dream."

Weiss sat up unsteadily, her body shaking violently and her breath still catching in her throat as she struggled to calm herself. Yang was peering curiously over the edge of her bed and Blake had torn her gaze from her book, 'The importance of dreams'. Even before her nerves had properly calmed Weiss was rolling her eyes and pointing towards the offensive reading material.

"For the last time, Blake, you're not picking my dreams apart."

"Yes I am." She replied dully, turning away and sticking her nose in the pages.

Weiss' lip curled up in a growl before she pushed herself out of bed and immediately began dressing for the day, ignoring her friend's concerned gazes. She'd been having nightmares a lot lately, Blake had suggested it was because she was stressed over the upcoming test but Weiss wasn't so sure. She felt like there was something more to it, but she didn't want to say anything of the sort.

She got ready quickly, eager to be out of the dorms and into the warm sunshine outside, a brief reprise from the rain and hail winter had thrown at them almost constantly for the last two weeks. The teachers had decided it would be a most opportune time to grade the students on what they'd learnt so far, which meant another group mission that could easily lead to injury. Not that Weiss was complaining, she wanted to be here, really she did.

She wasn't ready for it, though. Of course she claimed she was, in fact she was pretty sure she seemed the most confident out of the lot of them, when in reality she was falling apart with nerves. Being so well know from such a young age meant she had to learn how to hide things like that, though, and at times she felt maybe she hid it just a little too well.

"I know you're nervous," Ruby started, making Weiss feel suddenly like an open book, "But you shouldn't be, you're probably the best for this, I've got no idea what I'm doing." She shrugged casually.

Weiss turned with an expression of guilt, having just pushed herself out of bed grumpily though Ruby had been the one to save her from her own subconscious, but that guilt was gone in a moment, replaced with false pride. "Of course I'm the best for this." She said with a huff, packing her back with more determination than before.

"When you say it like that you should believe it." Ruby replied innocently, tilting her head in a puppy-like manner before smiling widely. Ruby's smiles were always so perfect, and so ridiculously sincere. When Ruby was happy it made everything else seem meaningless, because her being happy was the only thing that mattered to Weiss.

Weiss smiled back awkwardly at the odd but frighteningly true thought, hoping Ruby would miss the uncertainty, which she didn't. She stopped smiling and watched Weiss suspiciously, forcing her to avoid contact with the silvery orbs as she tossed her bag over her shoulder and made for the door. Thankfully no one followed as she slipped out into the hall and after taking a moment to just stop and breathe Weiss grinned to herself and set off down the hall in her familiar, confident stride.

* * *

The sun gleamed merrily through the windows as Weiss looked out over the grounds. Students were gathering by the fountain with their bags, chatting among themselves excitedly, some of them waving their weapons around haphazardly. Weiss idled on the thought of going down there and reminding them of the appropriate conduct in regards to their very sharp and potentially lethal killing machines but decided she'd much rather wait for them to figure it out on their own, which they did surprisingly fast.

A girl with short grey hair had just been hit in the back of the head by an over enthusiastic… Weiss stood to peer more intently at the other girl involved before, with a roll of her eyes and a palm to her face, she recognized it to be Ruby. Of course it would be, who else would wave around a giant gun-scythe and not expect any comeuppance.

By now there were tears, mostly from an excessively guilty looking Ruby, and laughter from the far too cheerful Yang. For sisters, the two were very different. Weiss suspected they were only partially related, probably on the father's side as she'd heard them both make comments towards their dad, though she wasn't too sure who their dad was. She really needed to pay more attention. Nevertheless she slung her back over her shoulder and made her way downstairs and outside.

By the looks of it she'd missed most of the drama and Ruby was now standing in the back cuddling her weapon, looking like she'd just been scolded and hit with a newspaper, which probably wasn't a bad thing considering how terrible an outcome it could have been. Either way Weiss didn't hesitate as she wove her way through the crowd and took a place by Ruby's side.

"You really should have known better." Weiss scolded

"You saw that!" Ruby whined, withdrawing in on herself and cradling her weapon that much closer.

"Ruby, everyone saw it."

"Aww."

* * *

With the students gathered the teachers began to call attention, listing off names and waiting for the appropriate catcalls and wails to let them know their students were there and highly excitable. Even Blake waved her arm in the air eagerly, only to be distracted by her book 'where to find a doom hound' only seconds later. Weiss rolled her eyes before turning to Ruby with a very pointed look.

"You'd better not mess this up." She snorted, but Ruby was used to her fake-snide attitude by now and simply turned an honest grin before winking and slinging Crescent Rose over her shoulder, almost knocking another boy unconscious. Weiss acknowledged his remarkable dodge with a nod of her head and he blushed shyly, itching the back of his neck and shrugging.

"You're walking behind me." Weiss said dully, forcing the smile of Ruby's face as she glanced over her shoulder and quickly began apologizing, again. As charming as the girl was, she was a bit of a spaz sometimes. Weiss smirked but quickly drew her focus to the teachers, who had started talking to each group individually.

An elderly teacher approached Ruby, a smile on her face but a scowl in her eye. She regarded the team with a sinister gaze before turning her nose up and speaking in a crackling voice.

"Team Rwby, you've been assigned to the Boarbatusk tunnels, you have three days to clear them of all Grimm, should any of your teammates find themselves wounded you will automatically lose one grade point. Fail to eliminate all beasts within the tunnels and you will forfeit your grade. Understood?"

Ruby nodded confidently and the woman scowled in disgust before moving on to the next team.

"Bitch." Yang whispered in Weiss' ear before being scolded by Blake for her foul language.

* * *

The teams lined up behind one another as they approached the four Launch pads that would send them to their allotted locations. They rotated and aligned themselves with grinding gears and Weiss momentarily wondered how long it had been since they were maintained. Nevertheless when it came for team Rwby to step up and prepare for their landing Weiss didn't hesitate and in a few seconds they were angling for their landing.


End file.
